Interview
by Walt Robillard
Today
we catch up to comic book creator, Andrew
Collas, as he
talks about the next issue of his comic, Zenith
Comics Presents: Heroic #2. Andrew's work on Heroic has been well
received and reviewed on sites like Drivethrucomic.com and he has the
love of industry peers to help push him forward.
WALT: Welcome,
Andrew. Thank you for taking the time to answer questions about
Heroic. For people who are not familiar with your work, can you give
us the elevator pitch?
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ANDREW: Elevator
pitch eh? I left the film industry a few years ago, so I might
be rusty. Here goes. What is the military industrial
complex was in charge of American Super Heroes? What if there
were those with powers who weren’t going to take it anymore? What
if a young woman was caught in the middle of it all, just trying to
figure out who she is?
WALT: What
attracted you to kickstarter?
ANDREW: Kickstarter
is a wonderful tool that allows for those with creative ideas to see
if there is an actual audience willing to support the idea and bring
it to life. For a comic writer, film maker, novelist, etc… It
allows us to bring ideas to market that the big publishers might pass
on. Never forget some of the biggest stories of the 20th
century were passed on by many people “in the know” for being too
different. While I am not saying HEROIC is one of those ideas,
you never know.
WALT: People
have been impressed with you having very strong female leads in the
book, so far. What made Lady America and Number 32 the clear choice
to tell the story?
ANDREW: Originally
when I set pen to paper the story was about Invictus (the blonde hero
on the last page of issue #1). As I wrote more and more, Lady A
was calling to me. The thing is, she was calling to me in a way
I hadn’t considered and then when the concept of Number 32 (who
will get a name, I promise) flowered, well the story took hold. Add
in Primus, who we meet in issue #2 and the circle is… complicated?
WALT: We
had two very big cliffhangers in issue 1. Can we expect some of those
lingering questions to be answered in issue 2?
ANDREW: I
promise for every answer I provide a new question will fill the void.
This is a BIG story and has many facets.
WALT: Some
of the promo art for issue #2 has been jaw dropping. What can you
tell us about the Heroic team and what they bring to the table?
ANDREW: Well
the art team is something special in my heart. Originally,
Oliver (Castaneda) was supposed to be the principle penciler for
issue #2 and onwards. We were so happy with the work he did on
#1. Sadly schedule conflicts and timetables got in the way and
we were forced to find someone to replace him. That led us to
Jesus (Morales) who is a tremendous talent! While his style is
very different from Oliver’s, it is still dynamic and exciting!
For fans of Oliver’s work, he WILL be doing the cover for
issue #2.
The
rest of the team is Gary (Beatty) on colours, I think his work speaks
for itself. Gary’s colours are the glue that brings the art
together and then we have HdE on letters, which makes the thread that
stitches the whole package into one amazing visual!
To
put it bluntly, I couldn’t be happier with the team we have
assembled.
WALT: With
so many creator owned comics using Kickstarter as a way to launch
their dream projects, what have you found is the pros and cons of
using this model?
ANDREW: Pros
and cons eh? Well the cons are the stress, the uncertainty, the
long hours where you watch no pledges come in and as the days tick
down you start to have doubts and make back-up plans and generally
have a stress kitten. The pros though are when you see the fan
from #1 come back for #2 with a big smile on their faces! That
tells me I’ve done something right and if at least one person
enjoyed the book, then I succeeded.
WALT: After
#2 goes out the door, what can fans expect next? Will there be a
continual push to see the first arc realized or will you start to
dream up your next project?
ANDREW: I
have SO many ideas, I swear if I could write full time (and pay the
bills) I would never run out of concepts, stories, characters or what
have you. That said, from day 1 I have promised that this story
will be completed, it needs to be. It is a BIG story, as I have
said before, and this BIG story is just the first step into the
larger world. In issues #2 and #3 we hint/show some of the past
of the Zenith Universe, all of which ties into where the future is
heading. I have to tell this story, or it won’t let me sleep.
WALT: Thank
you for taking the time to chat. For fans who want to follow or reach
out, what are your favorite internet hangouts?
ANDREW: Thank
you and thanks for the questions. As for where I hang my hat on
the internet, I am usually found on Facebook really, otherwise
Youtube is another constant haunt of mine. I have recently
discovered Reddit and and slowly getting to know the place. So
yeah, that’s about the extent of my internet hanging.
